W.I.P. 45th IAP P-39

[schwarzerHund]

I've been working with ICDP's outstanding template on this 45th IAP skin- originally a P-39D-2 from the spring of '43.  Slowly dialing it in- this is my first skinning effort and there has been a HUGE learning curve (using GIMP).  Really struggled getting the skin to save in dds format with ICDP's Alpha channel engaged.  Finally got it to work this morning after a lot of reading through various threads and experimenting.  Still a bit too much shine for my taste, I think the VVS overpaint of the USAAF discs should be blue instead of the green, maybe the tail stencil should be enlarged a bit- and I've gone too green on the OD- but will keep working at it...

Edited March 2, 2019 by SchwarzeHund

[Raptorattacker]

21 hours ago, SchwarzeHund said:

Still a bit too much shine for my taste, I think the VVS overpaint of the USAAF discs should be blue instead of the green, maybe the tail stencil should be enlarged a bit- and I've gone too green on the OD- but will keep working at it...

Hmmm... maybe, yes, yes and here, try these colourcharts...

Edited March 3, 2019 by Raptorattacker

[schwarzerHund]

Excellent color references- thanks, Rap!

[schwarzerHund]

making progress...

[schwarzerHund]

Still plugging away...learning more and more with each session...

[schwarzerHund]

I've only been able to work at it here and there- but the results are slowly improving.  The plan is now to do 2 skins from the 45th IAP during the spring of 1943 in the Kuban: Babak (white 40) and Glinka (white 21).  It's been frustrating not being able to get the desired results- but the more I go at it- the more I learn and the better the results get..

[senseispcc]

Great work, I cannot wait and fly in it, Thanks.

[schwarzerHund]

Thanks for your interest in this project, senseispcc- but it has become unnecessary and I have abandoned it. The reason I started it (while trying to learn GIMP from scratch!) was to produce some skins for the VVS P-39's in the Kuban early 1943 era- especially the 45th IAP.

 

FoxbatRU recently released a FANTASTIC skinpack of 45th IAP & 16th GIAP Airacobras from this era of fighting in the Kuban 1943 that cover these 2 particular aircraft- and several more.  If I could have placed a special order for a skin pack- it would be the one he created!  I really appreciate his efforts- and the results are much more aesthetically pleasing than the results I was getting!!!  I am indebted to him- and highly encourage folks to get a hold of his collection of skins in this thread (and the Russian language forum as well):

 

 

 

 

 

I would also like to highly recommend the book "Attack of the Airacobras: Soviet Aces, American P-39s, and the Air War Against Germany" by Dmitriy Loza (a Sherman tank commander for the USSR during WW2, and historian) Translated and edited by James F. Gebhardt.  It has a lot of great anecdotes and excellent information on the P-39 units: the evolution of tactics, technical issues with the P-39 and how the VVS addressed them, airfield set-ups, mission types, interesting pilots, etc.  It covers the way P-39 operations evolved from late 1942 and operations in the Spring of 1943 in the Kuban through the fall of Berlin in 1945.

 

Thank you again to FoxbatRU for his tremendous skinpack!